Tigers head for area round match up against Flower Mound Marcus

The Belton Tigers took advantage of opportunities presented to them in their Texas UIL Class 6A Baseball Bi-District series win over Cedar Hill.
It took three games, but the Tigers fought until the end to take the series.
With the Longhorns in the rearview mirror, Flower Mound Marcus is staring the Tigers straight in the face.
The teams will play a best-of-three series in the Area round. Belton plays host for the first game at Tiger Field Friday night at 7 p.m. The venue changes to Marcus High School on Saturday, with game two at 4 p.m. If game three is needed, the game will start 30 minutes following game two’s conclusion.
Friday night’s 7 p.m. game and Saturday’s 4 p.m. game will be carried on K-Rock 101.7 FM locally, KRock1017FM.com on the internet and K Rock 1017 application. The “if needed” game will be carried on KTEM-AM 1400, KTEMNews.com and News Radio 14 application, with an estimated starting airtime between 6 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.
Belton (14-14-3) had difficulties hitting off of left-hander Brandon Farrell in the Cedar Hill game one on Thursday. However, the Tigers took advantage of several errors and timely hitting on Friday and Saturday, combined to outscore the Longhorns 15-8 in the three-game set.
Reese Perry pitched exceptionally well in several stints, both in starting and relief roles. Chase King has delivered several quality starts, Dylan Blomquist has pitched well and Aaron Krueger has had several excellent relief outings. The staff has not tried to overpower hitters, but relied on their defense to make plays in the field.
Belton hits the ball well and plays smart baseball. They find the gaps, bunt well, and don’t make mistakes on the basepaths. The executed plenty of plate discipline in the Cedar Hill series, having struck out just seven times in 21 innings. They collected 20 hits and walked 12 times.
The Tigers have been productive up and down the lineup this season.
Flower Mound Marcus (23-10-1) finished in third place in District 5-6A, had a difficult three-game Bi-District Playoff series of their own. They were shut out on Thursday night 3-0 before sweeping the Saturday games 3-2 and 8-0 to advance to the Area series.
Marcus went 10-4-1 in their tournament schedule, which included wins against The Colony, Frisco Lone Star, Plan, Plano East and Temple to start the season 5-0. The Marauders lost consecutive games just twice during the year, having lost to Conroe Oak Ridge (12-6) and Humble Atascocita (14-4) on March 9, as well as a pair of District 5-6A ball games to Hurst L.D. Bell on March 13 (3-2) and March 16 (4-3).
Bell and Southlake Carroll are two common opponents that Belton and Marcus had this season.
Belton lost to Bell (4-3) on February 24 and defeated the Dragons (5-1) when they were the fourth-ranked team back on March 8.
Besides the pair of district losses to Bell, Marcus split with Carroll. They won 4-3 on April 3 and lost 9-6 on April 6.
A regional semifinalist in 2017, Marcus returns catcher Marcus Dickson, the district Defensive Player of the Year from a year ago. Infield standouts Conner Martin, Will Harrison and Blake Mayfield have played big roles for the Marauders this season.